The littoral zone of lake okeechobee as a source of phosphorus after drawdown |
| |
Authors: | Forrest E Dierberg |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Oceanography/Ocean Engineering/Environmental Science, Florida Institute of Technology, 32901 Melbourne, Florida, USA |
| |
Abstract: | Following a period of prolonged drought or intentional lake level drawdown, large littoral areas that once contained submersed
aquatic vegetation (SAV) are reinundated when lake levels rise. A complete assessment of the contribution made by decomposing
SAV to the in-lake phosphorus (P) concentration is important in both the management of Lake Okeechobee and understanding basic
P processes. The P contribution to the open waters of Lake Okeechobee from a rapid inundation of exposed SAV was calculated
by four methods: cores of field-desiccated SAV, cores of lab-desiccated SAV in the presence and absence of sediments, in situ
decomposition, and sequential macrophyte harvesting. P releases, given such an episodic event, were similar among the four
methods, ranging from 116±48 to 384±528 mg/m2 in the absence of sediment. When SAV is in contact with sediment, which is the realistic field situation, the amount of P
released was four times less (30±14 mg/m2) than in the absence of sediment. The calculated P releases would result in total P concentration increases in the lake from
2 to 15 μg/liter (upper 95% CI=2–25 μg/liter) in the absence of sediment; only 1 μg/liter increase was predicted when SAV
released P in contact with sediment. Thus it is unlikely that a significant rise in total P concentrations in the limnetic
zone of the lake would occur from the export of P released during the desiccation of SAV in the littoral-marsh zone during
a drawdown. |
| |
Keywords: | Submersed aquatic vegetation Phosphorus release Drawdown Flooding Littoral zone Internal loading Phosphorus cycling Lake Okeechobee |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|